Weekend Preview: Yale Arrives for The (soccer) Game(s)

Harvard Crimson fans have a busy weekend, with many games happening at home and on the road.

The men’s soccer squad faces off against Yale at home in a conference match tomorrow afternoon. Currently, the Crimson stands at 2-3-3, but the team is winless in its last six games. The last two wins Harvard pulled out came in its opening matches against Stanford and Massachusetts. But the Bulldogs are 1-7-1 this season, and the last meeting between the rivals saw the Crimson taking the match in double overtime, 1-0.

The women’s soccer team also takes on Yale at home tomorrow. The squad is looking for its first conference win after losing to Penn in its first and only Ivy matchup. Currently, the women stand at 3-4-1, but they won their last match against Massachusetts, 3-2. As for its rivalry with the Bulldogs, Harvard has won the last two meetings, including a 3-2 victory at Yale last season.

The men’s tennis team takes on competition at the Chowder Fest today, tomorrow, and Sunday. The men started off the season successfully at the Northeast Invitational in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The women’s tennis squad heads to Los Angeles, Calif. for the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships tomorrow.

And if the home games for soccer and tennis aren’t enough for Crimson fans, the men’s water polo team is taking on MIT tomorrow afternoon. Last weekend, Harvard lost to both Fordham and Iona, 13-5 and 11-10, respectively. The latter match went into four overtime periods, with junior Alex Popp making 21 saves and scoring a goal 30 meters away from the net. Overall, the Crimson stands at 5-10 against the Engineers, with MIT having won the last three out of four meeting between the two teams.

As for away games, the cross-country team heads to the Wisconsin Inter-Regional Invitational tomorrow morning. Both the men and the women finished second last weekend, with the men losing a tight battle to Yale and the women falling to Princeton. Captain Dan Chenoweth took the 8K title last weekend, finishing with a time of 25:10.70.

The football squad also hits the road for the second week in a row and heads to Lafayette. Last weekend, the Crimson fell to Brown, 29-14, to drop to 1-1 on the season. In the history of the two team’s matchups, Harvard has won 11 of the 15 meetings, but Lafayette stopped the Crimson’s eight-game winning streak in the series last season with a 35-18 win.

The women’s volleyball team has found life again. Currently 3-10 on the season, the women broke a seven-game losing streak last weekend with a 3-2 win over New Hampshire. The team takes on Dartmouth tonight at home, taking on its first home conference match. This is the second time that the Crimson faces the Big Green this season. Dartmouth beat Harvard, 3-1, last week.

Like the women’s volleyball team, the field hockey squad has also turned its season around. The team currently stands at 3-5, but the women snapped a five-game losing streak last weekend, beating Penn, 2-0. The team faces Brown tomorrow and Bucknell on Sunday.